


Stardust in Your Eyes

by Umbri



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Yusaku is an Alien, and nonbinary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:20:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbri/pseuds/Umbri
Summary: When you’ve lived in isolation for eons, social interaction doesn’t come so easy. Throw in a couple other complicating factors, such as drastic species, cultural, and other differences, and you’re likely not to be bored any time soon. Yusaku is relatively quick to adjust, but there’s much they don’t know—especially about themselves. What secrets lie buried in history—or should you leave them alone...?Big thanks to a discord friend for helping me with the concept and letting me write it!~~ARCHIVE WARNINGS MAY CHANGE IN ACCORDANCE TO FUTURE CHAPTER CONTENT~~
Relationships: Fujiki Yuusaku/Revolver | Kougami Ryouken
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	1. A Meeting Divined By the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER WARNINGS: N/A

Nothing’s changed for eons. 

How long they’ve walked this shrinking planet, they don’t know. They know this planet by heart—every rock, hill, divot, every tiny speck of dirt. They know exactly where mountains and rivers once were, lakes and oceans, where there was once civilization. They don’t remember why there isn’t any anymore, nor what any of them were. They’re almost certain they were shaped like them, but that’s the best they have. 

They _do_ remember what happened to everything else; the mountains, water, atmosphere, and even the size of the planet. They’d eaten it all over the long, long years; or more accurately, absorbed them. They don’t know how they do it, but they grow weaker the longer they go without having absorbed anything. They just, push lightly on something while thinking of absorbing it, and their hand goes straight through whatever it may have been, the object completely vanished. They vaguely remember absorbing mountains, then water, and the atmosphere before finally having to resort to absorbing the planet itself. 

They’re alone, but they’re not lonely. Nothing changes without them causing it—the planet’s in a perfect stasis, and that calms them. It’s not like they have nothing to do, either; every now and then they find some artifact or fossil underneath the dirt, and have made a decent sized collection of such finds. Weapons, both big and small, shells, different kinds of rocks, a soft, stuffed plush about the size of their hand shaped like what they vaguely recognize as a bear, and a couple different metal devices that have long since stopped functioning. There’s not an awful lot of variety, but they have ways to pass the time. 

Recently though, things have started changing. One of their favorite stars, a brilliant light blue, flickered red before disappearing entirely. They were used to watching stars die, but this saddened them, as though they’d lost something precious. It was a new feeling, strange in how they simultaneously welcomed and shunned it. A while later, one of the metal devices in their collection, a rectangular box with a couple dials and a stick of some sort sticking out, began making a high pitched squeal. Naturally, the sudden _very loud_ noise made them practically jump out of their skin, instinctually turning towards it with a growl, their whole body, including wings, poised to strike. It took them a moment to calm down, but eventually they started toying with the device. Turning the dials made the noise stop, and retracting the stick made it stutter, as though struggling to connect. As much as the noise annoyed them, they decided to keep it on. They didn’t know why it had crackled to life, but they felt like listening to it would eventually give them some semblance of an answer. 

And soon enough, it did. The static faded, replaced instead with someone speaking; they didn’t understand the language, but the voice was quite possibly the greatest sound they’d ever heard (ignoring the fact that the only other sound they recall hearing was the device’s high pitched squeal). It was a deep, rich baritone, a sound that seemed to reverberate through them. It was almost unreasonably soothing, and definitely unreasonably angering when it stopped so soon. The high pitched static started up again in its place, and they had to keep themselves from destroying the thing, deciding instead to continue carrying it with them to see if maybe that voice would come through once more. 

That choice paid off, as a while later, the static faded into the voice once more. They immediately stopped everything, setting down the device and sitting on their knees, drinking in the sound of this stranger’s voice. They vaguely recognized some of its words from the last time they’d heard it, but opted to instead focus on the sound, memorizing it as best they could before it once again gave way to the high pitched squeal. It was upsetting, for sure, but now they knew for certain it would be back. 

The frequency of this event varied, sometimes getting two within 3 planetary revolutions, sometimes waiting 7 for the next. As time went on though, they seemed to gradually become more frequent. They eventually understood the voice as well, going so far as to find themselves mimicking the voice’s “laugh.” They felt warm whenever the voice spoke, found themselves wondering who the voice was. In hopes of one day meeting them, they practiced their own speech, guttural and unrecognizable at first, but gradually they found out how to pronounce the syllables, and found themselves replying to the voice, making jokes and trying not to laugh so hard they couldn’t hear the voice anymore. For the first time, they had _fun_. 

Around when the voice spoke about once per planetary revolution, they spotted a new star in the sky. They could have sworn it was small and dim, but within two revolutions it was bigger than the biggest star they’d seen and brighter than even the lights on the metal devices they had right next to them. They were about to brush it off as them not paying much attention, until they started watching it and noticed why it was getting bigger—

It was getting _closer._

They started panicking when they were able to make out the object’s rough shape and noticed it wasn’t just a really big star, but there was really nothing they could do. Even with wings, they weren’t strong enough to escape the planet’s gravity, leaving them essentially trapped. They managed to approximate where it would land and flew far, _far_ away from there, and soon they watched the giant hunk of metal crash loudly into the planet, shaking it to its core and would have knocked them off their feet if they hadn’t flew just high enough to lift themselves off the ground. When the quakes subsided, they flew back towards it to investigate. The thought they had earlier gave them an idea; they were effectively trapped, but this giant metal thing propelled itself through space, didn’t it? If it still functioned, they could leave the planet and explore elsewhere. The thought was simultaneously exciting and terrifying. 

It took them a while to reach the crash site, but they reached it in time to see a white figure putting some metal devices in a bag. They seemed to be about to leave, along with their only chance of leaving this planet. They squeezed their eyes shut, steeling themselves, before approaching the figure on foot. 

They got pretty close before the figure looked up, but the instant they did, they grabbed something from their hip and pointed it at them. What it was was beyond them, but it was clearly a threat, so they stopped. They both stood there for a long moment, neither doing anything, until the stranger broke the silence;

“Who are you?”

Their eyes widened a bit, not because the stranger spoke the only language they knew, but because it was _who they learned it from._ They could never forget that velvety voice. 

“A friend,” They say, much to the stranger’s apparent surprise. They hear them mutter a “how” before they form a more coherent sentence. 

“And how can you prove it?”

They tilt their head at that, considering. Prove they’re a friend? Considering this person doesn’t have wings or blue skin, instead a strange pink, they’re likely two very different creatures. “I don’t know,” they admit. “What should I do to prove it?”

The stranger considers it, tilting their head and opening and closing their mouth before finally sighing and dropping their weapon back onto their hip. “Yeah, I’m not sure what I was expecting. Well, what do you want?”

Now _that_ they can answer. “I want to go with you.” Saying it is much different than thinking it, though, and the realization that they’d have to leave this planet hits them full force, making them bite their lip as they force themselves to instead think of what could be out there, what they could find. 

They catch the stranger staring them in the eye, and meets them head on. They may be afraid of leaving, but they’re more afraid of missing this chance. They do their best to convey just how much they want this, that they’re not letting the stranger leave without them. After a brief moment, the stranger chuckles, shrugs and turns around, opening a hole in the metal… thing. They’d have to ask what it was called—

—after they get some of their collection over here. It nearly slipped their mind, but the stranger hands them the bag they were using and waits for them to come back. 

The inside of the metal… shell, they decide to call it, is spacious, with an assortment of buttons on their right just in front of a large hole—why couldn’t they have come in from there?—and the majority of the inside on their left, including an indent in the wall for a pair of soft-looking slabs on top of each other and a series of walls that seemed movable in the back. They were fairly certain there was something behind the movable-looking walls, considering the outside of the metal shell looked considerably longer. 

The stranger stops in front of a hole in the wall, presses a button, and something that didn’t seem to be there before opens, completely see through but definitely a solid object, similar to the movable walls—was the hole in the front of the shell the same substance?

The stranger lifts something of the same substance off their head, shaking their hair and instantly entrancing them. Pure white neatly framed their face, light blue streaks in their hair accenting their eyes, the same brilliant blue of the star they liked so much that disappeared. As they take off their white suit, they find themselves further entranced by the man’s—they can tell that now—muscle, bulging on his arms and through his simple black shirt, flexing as he deftly undoes every little clasp and zipper, slipping off the material so smoothly that they forget to breathe for a long moment. 

Perfect. 

_“Hello?”_ The man calls, making them jump. 

“Y _es_?” They squeak, feeling their face warm as the man laughs. They set down the bag with their collection to cross their arms and pout, hiding behind their bangs. The man moves on, composing himself as he messes with the large panel of buttons. 

“My name’s Ryoken,” He says almost absentmindedly, more focused on the buttons in front of him. “What’s yours?”

A name… they don’t recall anything of the sort. “I don’t have one.”

They see Ryoken’s face scrunch up in consideration, humming to himself. After a moment, he stops, an almost shy look on his face. 

“Can…” He hesitates, and just when they think he’s about to take it back, he continues. “Can I call you… Yusaku?”

 _Yusaku._ They close their eyes, lips turning up in a gentle smile. They like it, especially the way Ryoken seemed to say it affectionately. Yusaku nods, and Ryoken shoots him a bright, soft smile.

“Welcome aboard, Yusaku.”

The first thing Yusaku finds on Ryoken’s spaceship is the mirror, which they quickly find shows themselves rather than someone else. It’s the first time they’ve seen themselves properly; their hair is a dark blue, with lighter blue and pink bangs neatly framing their face. Their skin is covered in blue tribal tattoos; little spikes on their face, nose, sides of their stomach and thighs, and stars on their shoulders. Their outfit is relatively simple, a medium gray with accents at the top of their sleeves, leggings, and top, riding up their neck, as well as stripes, both yellow. There’s a purple crown, almost, on their chest, starting from the sides of their neck and connecting in the center. They show a lot of skin, with completely bare shoulders, most of their stomach and thighs showing, and a lack of footwear, not to mention how loose their whole outfit is. Their four wings are mostly see-through, a very light gray with blue stars and edges shaped like a leaf. Their ears look similar, extending past their shoulders with rounded tips, a whole lot of fluff, and a pink inside that echoes the shape. Their eyes, a striking bright green, stand out immensely. They kinda understand why Ryoken stares at them so much now. 

The second thing they discover is what Ryoken calls the bathroom. More accurately, they discover the waste there. They leave it alone at first, but when Ryoken said it was probably just going to be tossed into the vacuum of space, they decided to absorb it. Which leads to the third thing they find; the two of them are _very different._ Ryoken’s shock and apparent disgust when Yusaku said they’d “eaten” the waste there was just the first instance. In the second instance, they found out what sleep was, and that Ryoken was _very grumpy_ when forcefully woken up. They only felt comfortable leaving him alone after a good few reassurances that _yes, I’m fine_ and _I’m not gonna die_. The third and most recent instance was when Yusaku insisted on exploring the outside of the ship, and eventually had to ask why Ryoken vehemently denied joining him; turns out, that would kill him. Interesting. 

Which is why they’re sitting here, staring solemnly at their lap while Ryoken scolds them. They feel really upset with themselves for causing him so much trouble, but when Ryoken sees them sulking, he switches from scolding to reassuring. 

“Yeah, you’ve been causing mischief these past few days,” Ryoken says, placing his hand on their head, causing their wings to perk up with a soft jingle. “But you’re getting used to things really fast. Besides,” Ryoken gives them a guilty smile. “I’m partially at fault here. I’m taking much longer to get used to you. Let’s just give each other some time, okay?” Yusaku returns a small smile and nods. Ryoken seems satisfied with that, and moves his hand to gently scratch behind their left ear, and immediately they melt, leaning into the touch and making a low rumble kinda like a growl, but not threatening. They hear Ryoken laugh a bit, mumbling something about a “cat,” but doesn’t stop, and Yusaku ends up relaxing so much they find out how to fall asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I’m an utter fool and mistook part of Yusaku’s design for something else. It has been fixed and is now 1,000,000x better


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusaku and Ryoken happen across an inhabited planet! But to ensure Ryoken’s safety, Yusaku shows an odd trait...?  
> CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A, unless excessive fluff counts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to ILoveTrunks for reminding me of my love for this AU uwu I got plans for this; but first, a little update

Sleep, as it turns out, is a wonderful way to conserve energy. Ryoken said they woke up after 3 hours, with virtually no loss in their strength. They do, however, find they’ve missed quite a bit of happenings; Ryoken claims to have found a nearby inhabited planet and had the ship’s “A.I.”—Artificial Intelligence, apparently—direct them to it. Yusaku tried to talk to the A.I., but Ryoken eventually stopped them after having to stop the A.I. from doing something three times. It’s not their fault; they only asked if it could, in theory, have the spaceship do tricks, change the interior, or destroy it outright. They never said anything about _doing_ those things. Regardless, Ryoken seemed to have a fight-or-flight response when the A.I. asked if it should “initiate self-destruction sequence,” not to mention plain angry, so they left him and the A.I. alone. 

In the time it took them to get to the inhabited planet, Yusaku learned a lot more about the ship and the “machines” inside it. They discovered the kitchen and the stores of food, including some inside a “refrigerator” that were perpetually cold, and ended up bringing Ryoken his meals at very exact times each day, both as an apology for giving him trouble with the A.I. and so he could potentially get more work done—he seemed fidgety when he wasn’t working. Not that Yusaku has any idea _what_ Ryoken works on all day, but they see no reason to stop him. 

They also discovered what Ryoken called a Laptop, a type of computer. After learning how the mouse and keyboard worked, as well as a brief lesson on how to read, they spent a fair bit of time exploring its wealth of knowledge—they could read very quickly, somehow. This included the history of human-kind—Ryoken’s species, apparently—and the explanations of various technologies and medicines human-kind had developed over its years, with the mention, but no explanation, of medicines meant to treat human illnesses, including a number of illnesses affecting the brain. There was one, however, listed in comprehensive detail—a medication meant to help the human brain to maintain an ideal chemistry—when they asked, Ryoken said it was a condition he had, and that the medication apparently prevented visual and auditory hallucinations, or the perception of something that doesn’t actually exist. He looked distant when they asked how they had developed such a condition, so they quickly dismissed it and continued to study other achievements of mankind. 

Or that was what they expected; mankind’s history is dark, including numerous armed conflicts, three of which were global, the forceful takeover of lands that had long since belonged to someone else, horrendous and even meaningless destruction and death, and such a wealth of horrible qualities and actions that they’re almost surprised how nice Ryoken is. They take solace in the fact that Ryoken was nothing like those they read of, that they would never meet those people, and instead explored the simple but addicting games on the laptop, including one they almost immediately took a great liking to; Bejeweled 2. It was simple to learn, with pretty backgrounds and music, and ended up spending a lot of time playing it. At least, until the ship’s radio crackled to life;

_“Unidentified aircraft, identify yourself.”_

Yusaku hops up from the computer chair, walking over to where Ryoken stood by the control panel, looking confused. 

“I forgot about language barriers,” they hear Ryoken mutter. He moves his right hand to the side of his head, massaging his temple with a focused expression. 

_“I repeat, unidentified aircraft, please identify yourself.”_

“You don’t understand it?” They ask nonchalantly, to which Ryoken whips his head around with a surprised look.

“You _can?_ ” Yusaku tilts their head slightly; it sounds no different to them. Why couldn’t Ryoken understand it?

They end up acting as a translator, telling Ryoken what the other side of the radio says and speaking on behalf of Ryoken to the other side. They’re ambassadors from Earth, he said—even though Yusaku’s never been there, but they don’t know that—looking for supplies and nothing more. A brief silence follows, but they’re soon accepted;

_“Welcome to Dwarvenheim.”_

Ryoken takes manual control of the ship, leading them down onto the surface of the planet, following a beacon. They expect things to go smoothly, but as they breach the atmosphere and are met with copious amounts of some kind of dust, Ryoken mutters a swear. 

“Living conditions. I might not be able to just walk around, and I can’t exactly just waddle in my spacesuit the whole time…” Ryoken lets the A.I. take over as he instead paces the ship, one hand on his chin. Living conditions, huh? Yusaku could survive without an atmosphere in the vacuum of space, but Ryoken would die if he attempted the same. _I wonder…_

“What exactly is the problem?” They ask. Ryoken doesn’t react at all, but answers;

“For one thing, I need oxygen to breathe. The atmosphere may not have enough for me to live in. Then there’s also the issue of atmospheric pressure, how much sunlight gets through, temperature, whether or not I could actually eat whatever food they have for sale…” He suddenly stops and throws his hands up in the air. “Money! What the fuck am I supposed to pay with??” He finds a chair and sits himself down, burying his face in his hands. Yusaku’s not sure what to do about the money issue or edibility, but the rest… if they knew how they differed from Ryoken, could they alter his body to survive in any condition…?

They subconsciously walk up to him, not paying much attention to how he looks at them with confusion, especially as they place their hands on his cheeks and press their foreheads together. They hear him call their name, but only reply with a small _shh._ They close their eyes and focus on Ryoken’s breathing, how his chest rhythmically rises and falls, and matches it, studying how Ryoken’s body works by making their own function identically. His breathing does speed up after a while, and they can hear his heart beating faster than it normally would, but ultimately it doesn’t change what they need to do.

At this point, they operate more on instinct than rationality, finding themselves in a sort of trance that gives them the feeling they know what to do already. They take a deep breath—no longer mimicking Ryoken’s breathing—and press their lips against his in what they recall was CPR, ignoring how he gasps as they share their breath. At the same time, they trace their right index finger down from Ryoken’s cheek to where his neck and shoulder connect, feeling his whole body shiver. After a moment to make sure the appropriate effects take place, they pull away, only noticing how tense Ryoken had been when it all disappears as he wraps one arm around himself and covers his mouth with the other, releasing a breath they didn’t notice him holding. They shouldn’t have changed his skin color at all, but his face is bright pink, and he stares at them with wide—but not displeased—eyes. 

“Y-you—what—” Ryoken struggles to get more than one syllable out, breathing heavily. He suddenly draws a sharp breath and shivers again, his whole body squirming for a brief moment. “W-what— _what did you do?_ ”

“You said you might have trouble breathing and with temperature, so I fixed it.” It seems simple to them, at least. Though they probably should have—

“You could have _warned_ me!” —Okay, definitely should have given him a warning. Thankfully though, he doesn’t seem angry; just exasperated. 

“I’ll warn you next time?” Yusaku offers as consolation. 

_“What next time??”_ Ryoken snaps, making them recoil a bit. It takes him a moment to realize he’s scared them, sighing and attempting to relax. It doesn’t seem to work. “Whatever, just… _if_ it happens again, warn me.”

It takes a little bit for Ryoken to get over his nerves from the fact that he doesn’t know for certain whether he’s gonna drop dead the moment he steps out of the ship, but after a lot of reassurance and a promise that, if anything should go wrong, Yusaku will get them back in the ship where they can look to fix it. Thankfully, he’s perfectly comfortable as they step out, letting them relax and explore. 

They landed in a desert town, a surprisingly hilly terrain with innumerable buildings of sandstone, neatly arranged in rows. The buildings to their left are tiny compared to the ones on their right; there is a section of larger buildings on the short side that are just slightly bigger than the buildings on the right, but they think that’s because those buildings are several floors tall. The reason for the size difference is apparent when a group of three people barely 2 meters tall walk up to them. 

“Welcome to Dwarvenheim,” They say in unison, bowing a neat 45*. Ryoken blinks as though confused. “Please refrain from entering the West side of the town without permission from one of its Dwarven residents. We also ask that you leave any weapons you may have here,” A fourth Dwarf walks up and drops a box more than half its size between them and the three Dwarves. “For the safety of others.”

Ryoken doesn’t move, instead staring at the box in confusion. Why they’d forgotten he couldn’t understand the Dwarves is beyond them, but once they started translating for him, he quickly did as told, dropping the weapon they had tried to use against them when they first met in the box and making a show of not having anything else. Satisfied, the Dwarves show them where they put the box, handing them a key before leaving them to explore on their own. 

“How do you understand them?” Ryoken asks as they start to wander towards the east. Yusaku tilts their head in consideration, but comes up with nothing and just shrugs. 

“It sounds exactly the same to me, when you talk and when they talk. I take it it _isn’t_ the same, but I don’t hear a difference.”

He takes a moment to think that over, and after a moment stops. Yusaku only makes it a couple steps ahead before they realize Ryoken isn’t following anymore. As they turn around, he speaks up. 

“What about that… thing you did earlier? Can you do that again?”

They blink, bringing a hand to their chin as they consider how they’d do that. Language comprehension… it’s not as simple as _make this breathable_ or _make this less susceptible to solar radiation_ ; this is messing with the _brain._ It’s much more fragile than the lungs or skin; just a teensy mistake could totally cripple Ryoken in any way. 

But… they did seem to know instinctively what to do once they entered that sort of trance. If nothing else, it was worth seeing if they could get that feeling again. 

“I’ll try,” They mutter, closing their eyes and again pressing their forehead to his, cupping his cheeks. Matching his breathing was something they could do easily, but only because they had been able to hear and feel each breath. But then how did they alter his skin…? That had been part of their trance. 

Well, nothing for it but to try. 

“Listen to my voice.” They will themselves to focus, somehow, on how Ryoken’s brain worked, and as they spoke, felt as though they saw some kind of spark. “Don’t say anything,” More sparks. “Just listen.” The same area lit up with sparks as they spoke, likely the part of his brain responsible for understanding speech—now that they know where that is…

 _“Just listen,”_ They repeat, this time in Dwarven. The same spot lights up a bit, along with something else. “Don’t think, just listen. _Just listen_.”

They repeat that a few times, in Dwarven and English, before they feel confident they know exactly how his brain responds to hearing familiar and unfamiliar languages. It’s around here, as they consider how to make Dwarven a “familiar” language, that they feel themselves slip into that trance, and the pieces seem to fall into place. 

Opening their eyes to meet Ryoken’s gaze, they mutter what feels like a spell;

**_“Understand.”_ **

Immediately he gasps, losing his balance as he tries to stumble backwards. Yusaku catches him as he holds his head, shaking it off after a moment and standing straight again. 

_“Did that work?”_

Ryoken’s eyes widen a little, but quickly softens as he shoots them an even softer smile. 

“It sure did.”

Turns out Ryoken could also read Dwarven, however that happened. They both spot a small grocery store, or the Dwarven equivalent anyway, and don’t even need to share a glance to know they agree to go there. It’s very neatly organized, with smooth sandstone boxes holding countless amounts of different foods, each neatly put into their own section. The boxes are further divided in a perfect square shape with enough room for two people to walk side by side between them based on the type of food they contained; fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy products. Despite the store itself being only slightly cooler than outside (being out of the desert sun), as Yusaku leans over to look over some of the fruits, they feel a cool breeze on their face, as though the sandstone boxes were chilled somehow. 

They look around for a bit while Ryoken picks things out, not really needing this kind of food but curious nonetheless. They hear him chatting with the salesclerk for a while, figuring out the worth of his coins since they’re apparently used to very different types of currency. They seem to come to an agreement, and they moved on to their next stop; which was apparently a restaurant right in front of the store they just left. Yusaku didn’t need proper food, but Ryoken insisted they need to experience local delicacies. 

_Dwarven Delights_ , as the store was called, was a fairly quaint place, with 10 round tables lined in two rows against the side walls, an area towards the back mostly walled off with an opening in the wall to watch the food being made, one at Dwarven height and another for the taller races. A man with the ears and tail of a cat greets them at the front counter, grabbing a pair of menus and leading them to their seats. Yusaku couldn’t find a difference between any of the options—only seeing different forms of energy—so they ended up letting Ryoken pick for them. They learned to recreate Ryoken’s tongue while they were waiting for their food at his own request, saying they needed to be able to taste it to enjoy it. (And, you know, not to make the whole thing vanish with a flick of the wrist.) What ends up in front of them is what Ryoken calls a “cheeseburger,” a patty of meat from a domesticated animal with various vegetables and cheese on it, all encased in two slices of bread. They mimic how he eats it and, though it takes them a moment to get over the sensory overload that was taste, quite enjoys their meal. 

They also take the time to look around the store, particularly at the customers. There were many that looked similar to Ryoken—with two arms and two legs—but they almost all had ears and a tail of many different varieties. Dogs, cats, bears, rabbits, a squirrel… the only exceptions were the dwarves and one other race, a very tall kind with pointy ears. Many had a similar skin tone as him as well, but others had colors similar to theirs. There were also some oddballs, people sharing the general bipedal shape but with vast differences, such as an octopus person with a lot more than two arms and legs. Ryoken seemed fascinated with the variety of species as well, though he doubtless hid it better. 

Walking out of the store, Yusaku quickly gets distracted by a small place simply called _Flora_ , and ends up staring at the flowers on display. There was one in particular that had them so transfixed—a white blossom with baby blue leaves gently holding it up, as though even the softest breeze would whisk the delicate petals away, lost to the wind. 

It wasn’t until they heard a commotion somewhere to their left that they notice Ryoken was nowhere in sight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might edit this later... the pacing feels a bit off, since most of this is old writing, but I really wanted to get something out there.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaaaaah it’s here!!!!! My baby’s debut!!!!!! This AU is my CHILD I love it so much uwu I hope y’all enjoy this even a fraction as much as I do! I feel like I might have rushed some parts, so feel free to leave suggestions for parts I should expand on!  
> no, I haven’t forgotten about If I Could Go Back. just had a lack of inspiration for it recently. Sorry for any inconvenience!


End file.
